Israeli soldiers manhandled a European diplomat on Friday and seized a truck full of tents and emergency aid a group of diplomats had been trying to deliver to Palestinians whose homes were demolished this week in Khirbet al-Makhul, a community in the occupied West Bank. Soldiers reportedly threw sound grenades to drive away the diplomats, aid workers and residents, and yanked a French diplomat, Marion Castaing, out of the truck before driving it away…

Diplomats from France, Britain, Spain, Ireland, Australia and the European Union’s political office, turned up on Friday with more supplies. As soon as they arrived, about a dozen Israeli army jeeps converged on them, and soldiers told them not to unload their truck.

The Times may be justified because the account only includes evidence of one diplomat being manhandled. The Israelis evidently defied and threatened the other diplomats. But then, why not make it diplomat? Thanks to Max Blumenthal.

Also, today’s Times appeared to soften a piece that highlighted Israeli intransigence on Iran. The original– visible at Google— had this headline and opening:

Netanyahu Scoffs at Iranian Overtures, Setting Stage for Showdown With U.S.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, moved quickly to block even tentative steps by Iran and the United States to ease tensions and move toward negotiations to end the nuclear crisis, signaling what is likely to be a sustained campaign by Israel to head off any deal.

Mr. Netanyahu’s office dismissed as “media spin” a flurry of statements by Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, about the goals of his nation’s nuclear program and his willingness to engage in diplomacy regarding it. His remarks were made amid news that Mr. Obama had reached out to Mr. Rouhaniwith a private letter, and renewed discussion in Washington ofnegotiations that could lift sanctionsagainst Iran.

As It Makes Overtures to Iran, U.S. Strives to Reassure Israel
By MARK LANDLER and JODI RUDOREN

WASHINGTON — As the Obama administration embarks on a highly visible diplomatic overture to Iran, White House officials are engaged in a quieter, behind-the-scenes effort to reassure Israel that they will not fall for the charms of Iran’s new president by prematurely easing pressure on his government to curb its nuclear program.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel arriving for a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday. His office dismissed Iranian suggestions of openness to diplomacy as “media spin.”

In private conversations with Israeli officials and a few public statements, administration officials have emphasized that they remain skeptical of Iran’s intentions on the nuclear program, and that they will judge Iran by its actions, not by the conciliatory words of its newly elected president, Hassan Rouhani. In advance of his arrival in New York next week for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Rouhani has signaled a willingness to negotiate an agreement over the future of Iran’s nuclear program.

But the White House’s reassurances did not prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel from issuing a harsh condemnation of Mr. Rouhani this week, presaging a potential showdown with President Obama over how to deal with Iran, after a period in which the two leaders appeared finally to be in sync.

The Times got in trouble for this sort of legerdemain before. Three weeks ago, in revising a news story on its website, the New York Times deleted a reference to AIPAC as the 800-pound gorilla in the politics of attacking Syria. The decision prompted the Times to explain its actions to Politico, saying that it updates/revises stories that are posted on the web, and the original reference was still on its site, at a different url. Maybe Rudoren’s original is somewhere on the Times site, I couldn’t find it.

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September 21, 2013, 3:59 pm

According to the IDF , “A group of dozens of Palestinians and European activists tried to construct an illegal outpost by erecting tents near the village of Hemdat in the northern Jordan River Valley, a move similar to what they have attempted about a week ago.

“This group of activists and Palestinians were hurling stones at the IDF troops that have arrived to evacuate them, as they did last week, but the group continued to try and build the encampment using tents they had brought with them,” the statement noted, adding that the areas was announced “closed military zone.

The IDF stated that three people who were disturbing the peace refused to evacuate and attacked the soldiers, which led to their arrest and to the confiscation of their truck.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson said a formal complaint might be filed with the French over the diplomat’s involvement. “If she did participate then a formal complaint will be filed because that is not the way diplomats behave,” he said.

Well, the NYT has sunk to new lows in the last 20-25 years as far as this situation in general has been concerned.

I used to read it when I was in high school (“look at me! I read the New York Times, I’m truly an intellectual!”) but by the end of 2010 it became clear that the paper was pushing an overly skewed view on the issues behind Palestine and to a lesser extent the greater MENA, or disseminating outright fabrications– especially in pieces “co-authored” or “opinion pieces” by people with connections to the Israeli establishment.

Now I just buy a couple copies when I work on some property my family has up north– it actually makes a good substitute for TP if you didn’t bring enough.

The BBC has a story describing European diplomatic protests about the event, titled “Diplomats protest over West Bank clash with Israel troops.”

French diplomat Marion Fesneau-Castaing told Reuters news agency: “They dragged me out of the truck and forced me to the ground with no regard for my diplomatic immunity.

“This is how international law is being respected here.”

One European official described the Israeli actions as “shocking and outrageous”.

A spokesman for the British Consulate General in Jerusalem said it was “concerned at reports that the Israeli military authorities have prevented the affected community from receiving humanitarian assistance”.

Has anyone posted a video that shows the entire sequence between the confrontation with the diplomats and MP Fresneau-Castaing ending up on the floor dirt? The 1-minute 11-second Press TV segment from which JP got their money shot seems to show her striking an IDF soldier immediately after he says something to her. He may or may not be the same soldier who had earlier (or later?) poked his automatic rifle in her face while she was in the dirt. More like a back-handed slap than a serious jab.

RE: “In private conversations with Israeli officials and a few public statements, administration officials have emphasized that they remain skeptical of Iran’s intentions on the nuclear program, and that they will judge Iran by its actions, not by the conciliatory words of its newly elected president, Hassan Rouhani.” ~ Landler & Rudoren

IN OTHER WORDS: The Obama administration continues to act as Israel’s “enabler”! ! ! Especially vis-à-vis Iran, at least up to a point (the point of actually bombing Iran).
Perhaps this is just another example of “loving Israel to death”! ! !

MY SECOND COMMENT: Obama and Kerry should talk to some good psychiatrists about the wrongheadedness of being Israel’s enabler out of the (mistaken*) belief that “the only way Israelis will do something is if you love them to death”**. They need to understand that it is possible for an enabler to literally love the enabled to its (literal) death.***

* FROM JOEL KOVEL, 1-20-13:

[EXCERPT] . . . As with everyone I know of in official political culture, [Thomas] Friedman [probably like Kerry and Obama – J.L.D.] assumes that Israel is a rational actor on the international stage who will obey the calculus of reward and punishment that regulates the conduct of normal states.
The presumption is that if you tell it the truth, and even pull back US support, it will get the message, reflect, and change its ways. But Israel is not a normal state, except superficially. It will make adjustments, pulling back here, co-operating there, making nice when necessary, crafting its message using a powerful propaganda apparatus employing the most up-to-date social science. But this is simply tactical and no more predicts or explains the behavior of the Zionist state than an individual sociopath can be explained by the fact that he obeys traffic signals while driving to the scene of his crime. . .

** ALSO SEE: “It’s Time for Some Israel Real Talk”, By Jaclyn Friedman, Prospect.org, 2/20/13

[EXCERPT] . . . I love Israel. As an American Jew, the dream of Israel has held me in thrall since I was a small child. The day I wept at the Wailing Wall was one of the most transcendent and emotional of my life. But loving someone doesn’t mean helping them do whatever destructive thing they want. Call that enabling or co-dependence, but it’s not love. I love Israel like I’d love a drunk friend who wants their car keys. . .

*** AND SEE: “How Israel Is Like an Alcoholic Mother”, by Megan McArdle, The Atlantic, 3/22/12

[EXCERPT] . . . What is it Alex Portnoy overhears his mother say to her friends, apropos of the lengths she has to go to to get him to eat? “I have to stand over him with a knife!”
To be a bit more serious for a moment, though, Chesterton famously quipped: “My country, right or wrong is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying: “My mother, drunk or sober.” Well, yes, but she is your mother, drunk or sober, right? Similarly, it is your country, whether your country is right or wrong. The question is what that entails. If your mother is a drunk, and begs for another drink, are you obliged to give it to her? Presumably not.
But are you obliged to devote yourself to getting her to dry out? That, it seems to me is the real heart of the question. I think many of Beinart’s critics — like Jeffrey Goldberg — would say: that’s exactly how they think about Israel and the settlements. They are against them. . . They think they were and are a grave and historic mistake. . .. . . So they are doing what they can to convince their mother to check herself in and dry out. But she’s their mother. If it takes her a long time to convince, they’ll keep trying. If she slips a drink on the sly, they’ll try to hide the liquor better, but they’ll forgive her. [In other words, they will act as “enablers”. ~ J.L.D.] And, whatever she does, they certainly aren’t going to call the cops on her, and give the neighbors (who never liked her, even have tried to get her evicted) the satisfaction of seeing her humiliated by her own son in public. After all, she’s their mother. [Let’s call this “constructive engagement”! ~ J.L.D. ]
Well, talk to a few children of alcoholics, and you’ll discover that “my mother, drunk or sober” is not always a tenable proposition. Sometimes, for some people, the sense of obligation to one’s mother is trumped by a sense of obligation to oneself, and to protect oneself from her disease. And that, in a nutshell, is what Beinart is saying. She may be my mother, yes, but if she keeps carrying on, I don’t care what the neighbors say, and I don’t care if she never speaks to me again afterward: I’m going to call the cops on her. . .

A VERY LATE SUMMER EVENING’S MUSICAL INTERLUDE, proudly brought to you by the makers of the new Über-Xtreme Ziocaine Ultra SR (Sustained Release) Transdermal Patch®: Let The Good Times Roll!™

. . . You say eether and I say eyether,
You say neether and I say nyther;
Eether, eyether, neether, nyther,
Let’s call the whole thing off!
You like potato and I like potahto,
You like tomato and I like tomahto;
Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto!
Let’s call the whole thing off!
But oh! If we call the whole thing off,
Then we must part.
And oh! If we ever part,
Then that might break my heart!
So, if you like pajamas and I like pajahmas,
I’ll wear pajamas and give up pajahmas.
For we know we need each other,
So we better call the calling off off.
Let’s call the whole thing off! . . .

● You Say ‘Tomato’, I say ‘Tomato’… [VIDEO, 05:31] –

P.S. The “Ziocaine” concept was originated by Mooser at mondoweiss.net.

“Senior European Union officials told Israel to explain why its soldiers seized a truckload of humanitarian aid intended for Palestinians, saying they deplored the confiscation.

Israeli soldiers manhandled European diplomats on Friday and seized tents and emergency aid they had been trying to deliver to Palestinians whose homes were demolished this week.

A Reuters reporter saw soldiers throw sound grenades at a group of diplomats, aid workers and locals in the occupied West Bank, and yank a French diplomat out of the truck before driving it away.

“EU representatives have already contacted the Israeli authorities to demand an explanation and expressed their concern at the incident,” a statement issued by the spokesmen for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said on Saturday.

Relations between Israel and the EU have been strained over the EU’s decision, announced in July, to bar financial assistance to Israeli organizations operating in the occupied territories from next year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced that move as meddling in Israel’s bilateral relations with the Palestinians. Israel retaliated by blocking the EU from aiding tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank.”

This incident with the French diplomat is the first response salvo of Israel on the proposed new EU guidelines. What it aims to show the Europeans that they will lose any ability to intervene in the West-Bank if they go ahead with their boycott threats (even if partial ones) – there will be a price to pay. In the immediate future it is likely that there would more of that in the run up to Jan when the new EU guidelines are expected to come into force.

Gosh, ivri, what “price” would that be? No pat on the head from Israel? Just think, if all the European diplomats, those from each of the Eurozone countries along with those from the EU itself, were being assaulted every time they tried to provide the assisitance to Palestine which they are *supposed* to provide! Wow! what a lot of negative press (for Israel) that would cause! Would it really, really be possible to keep on keeping it out of the US mainstream media? Or for the US msm to keep spinning it as caused *by* the diplomats?

“What it aims to show the Europeans that they will lose any ability to intervene in the West-Bank if they go ahead with their boycott threats (even if partial ones) – there will be a price to pay. In the immediate future it is likely that there would more of that in the run up to Jan when the new EU guidelines are expected to come into force.”ivri

i swear to g i heard about this same story about a week ago, maybe 10 days. i know i did. it couldn’t have been a repeat of the same crime. very very strange.

and as i recall he had no intention of killing him, it was suppose to be some trade off and then things went bizarro. what i can’t figure out is why it was released today, all over the news in every little paper all across the country but when i first read about it, not so much. unless i was dreaming. it’s just too strange. tragic. but i can’t figure out how i knew about it a week ago. i know i read about it then.

I just reread this report with my glasses on. We have one 42 year old Palestinian who is supposed to have made what appears a singularly disingenuous confession. Far be it from me to question Shin Bet’s account but it might be worth keeping tabs on how this unfolds, after all.

@Annie: I don’t think that “it was suppose to be some trade off and then things went bizarro”. The two were friends work together in Bat-Yam restaurant. Since the soldier, Tomer Hazan, trusted the Palestinian, Amar Nidal, he accepted his offer to visit his home at Beit Amin inside WB, something usually Israeli don’t do. The Palestinian murdered his friend and hided the body. He told the police that he wanted to trade the body for prisoners. Whatever his motive was, in addition to the murder, the Palestinian also killed friendship, mutual trust and increase the fear among people.

The Foreign Ministry condemned the EU diplomats who were involved in an altercation with IDF soldiers in the West Bank Friday, saying what was done by the European diplomats was “a provocation.”

Israeli soldiers seized tents and emergency aid the diplomats had meant to give to Palestinians. “Diplomats are sent by their country to construct bridges, not to provoke. They owe an explanation for this breach of the regular diplomatic code of conduct,” the ministry said. (Attila Somfalvi) ”

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